What secret/special ingredient do you add to certain food/dishes?

toracat

hellmanns light mayo or campbells condensed chicken soup to mash - not both though

couple rashers bacon and few sticks celery to carrot soup

cinnamon and nutmeg or all spice to hot choc (especially nice if also using low fat squirty cream on top)

peas, sweetcorn and garlic to mince (tend to use tinned peas and sweetcorn) as well as usual chopped carrots and onions. is great for bulking it up. also put in mushrooms if have any. just put any 'extras' in nearer end of cooking

tomato sauce spread thinly over cheese on toast - means my toddler keeps asking for pizza toast :rotfl:

splash of orange juice if boiling carrots (or marmalade works too)

orange juice added to home made veg stirfry (still do if adding chicken)

buy lloyd grossman korma sauce when £1 in asda and add big handful of raisins / sultanas or any other dried fruit

Hylda

One of my favorite finds is the ready chopped leeks, onions, carrots etc in supermarkets. I have difficulty chopping up veg, plus I usually waste any I buy as I never get around to making the soup/stew/casserole I planned.
These packs make excellent soup bases and last night I added chicken pieces and tomatoes, plus puree and made a yummy casserole that my daughter and husband...who hate carrots ate. There was some of the tomatoey veggy base left so I am putting that on top of pasta for the beloveds din dins.

I also add worcester sauce and mustard to spice up gravy and chops.:T

Mrs_Weasley

DILL! In my homemade coleslaw, yum yum!

I even get asked to make it for other peoples parties...and they offer to pay :T

schoolfundraiser

Hylda wrote: »

One of my favorite finds is the ready chopped leeks, onions, carrots etc in supermarkets. I have difficulty chopping up veg, plus I usually waste any I buy as I never get around to making the soup/stew/casserole I planned.
These packs make excellent soup bases and last night I added chicken pieces and tomatoes, plus puree and made a yummy casserole that my daughter and husband...who hate carrots ate. There was some of the tomatoey veggy base left so I am putting that on top of pasta for the beloveds din dins.

I also add worcester sauce and mustard to spice up gravy and chops.:T

Veg. packs are also sometimes reduced due to being slightly elderly but fine for soups. Worth keeping an eye out for in the supermarkets.

schoolfundraiser

A good way to use up a slightly past its best or small lemon. Stick a fork in a few times to release the juice then stick in the cavity. Keeps the flesh moist while roasting and gives it a lovely lemon flavour.

It does work with just half a lemon too and with oranges but not so well.

Little_Feet

Into all my cakes and biscuits now I add a Pinch of Vanilla Salt. It sounds odd, but it just wows up the sweetness in a way that has to be tasted to be believed. Salt is very important in baking anyway to help raising etc. There is a Welsh proprietory brand of vanilla salt...I failed to buy this locally, so, in true thrifty fashion, I make my own Vanilla Salt now with Sea Salt Flakes and a scraped out vanilla pod stored in a sealed jar. Shake before use.

mogsmum_2

For a non-dairy "cheese" sauce, make up a standard white sauce with soya milk (I have found Tesco's own brand the cheapest locally, but we don't have an Asda close by) and add a teaspoon of Marmite, salt and pepper to taste - great for cauliflower "cheese", etc.

My other moneysaving culinary essential is my pressure cooker - working full-time and getting a healthy home cooked meal on the table is becoming less stressful now I have got the hang of "one-pot" meals using my elderly cooker, saved from a skip at a local secondary school. We just replaced the washer and valve seals and it still has plenty of life left in it. Great for using cheap cuts of meat - they become really tender, similar to slow cooking.

If anyone has any recipes for pressure cooking, perhaps we could start a new thread.

Amanda4242

I use mustard in cauli cheese and sprinkle cinnamon on top

alysonteapot

I dont use bisto to thicken up mince (makes it taste of Bisto!) but add a beef stock cube and thicken with a spoonful of oatmeal or rolled oats which also makes it go further. I would also never serve my mince without a dollop of gravy browning as this makes ordinary mince much richer looking!!



Happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have xx

sandragrace

I once looked at the ingredients on a casserole mix and was surprised to see lemon juice, nutmeg, yeast extract, paprika and worcestershire sauce. So I now add some or all of these when cooking stews and casseroles. My husband once added cinnamon instead of nutmeg to a chilli by mistake and it was actually very nice - though the smell of the cinnamon did put me off a bit!